The doctor-patient relationship has been transformed over the years. Prior to two decades ago, the relationship was mainly between the patient seeking help and the doctor, whose decisions were made quietly by the patient. In this paternalistic model of the doctor-patient relationship, the doctor uses his or her skills to select the necessary interventions and treatments that are most likely to restore the patient's health or alleviate his or her pain. Any information given to the patient is intended to encourage the patient to consent to the doctor's decisions. This description of an asymmetrical or unbalanced interaction between doctor and patient has been challenged over the past 20 years. Critics have proposed a more active, autonomous and therefore patient-centred role for the patient, which advocates greater patient control, reduced physician dominance and greater mutual participation. This patient-centred approach has been described as one in which 'the doctor tries to enter the patient's world, to look at the disease through the patient's eyes' and has become the dominant model in clinical practice today.
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